I don't get this. Isn't LinkedIn just a way for people to share resumes? Seems fairly innocuous.

Theoretically, yes. In practice, it's a platform for a professional version of the posturing that takes place in other social media.

Why, sure, guy I've met once, I'll be happy to "endorse" you for a skill I don't even know whether you have or not because we talked for five minutes at an event.

It's essentially Facebook with more power/status-grubbing and fewer cat pictures.

This. Imagine an HR department actually considering the aggregate count of your friends' friends to determine your worth as an employee, then realize Linkdin is basically trying to blackmail you to sign up and pester people to make your network bigger.

Mangers from prospective employers checked me out on LinkedIn. I assume they were doing a quick check to make sure nothing was grossly wrong. My job list for the past decade is consistent with my resume. I have real people as connections.

What if I weren't there? One company heard about me through a trusted insider, so no problem. The other heard about me through somebody they tried to recruit. In that case they would have checked references before offering me a job, but they did anyway. So I'm not sure it's all that helpful. Mainly, it gives me a way to keep track of former coworkers through email address changes.

I would have to be pretty desperate for a job to work somewhere that used LinkedIn as part of the hiring process. I'm not saying I can't imagine being that desperate, mind you. But it would add to my disappointment at having that job.

I wouldn't look down on someone else for having that job, though. It's hard to find a good job.

Reminds of more interesting CSB: I applied for a job at a major corporation, a few years ago, and as part of the process they gave me a MORONIC multiple-choice test with questions asking things like how much money it was OK to steal from your employer per month and how often you would take drugs at work. It seriously made me embarrassed to be applying for a job there.

Better: In every single case, the only possibly right answer was D.

Best: The hiring manager was not allowed to grade the test herself. The corporation used an outside company that produced the test, and they had to fax my test in and wait for the evaluation to come back.

I walked out, because my savings account was not yet empty, and I was not that desperate to work for another braindead corporation.